openclaw/docs/providers/nillion.md

summary	read_when
Use Nillion nilAI privacy-preserving models in Moltbot	You want privacy-preserving AI inference in Moltbot You want Nillion nilAI setup guidance

Nillion nilAI

Nillion provides privacy-preserving AI inference using blind computation. Your data remains private throughout the entire inference process - nilAI serves models running in a TEE and other techniques to ensure your prompts and responses are never exposed.

Why Nillion in Moltbot

• Privacy-preserving inference using blind computation.
• Reasoning support for complex tasks.
• Tool calling support for function execution.
• OpenAI-compatible /v1 endpoints for easy integration.

Features

Feature	Support
Streaming	Supported
Reasoning	Supported
Tool/Function calling	Supported
Text generation	Supported
Vision/Images	Not supported

Setup

1. Get API Key

1. Sign up at nilai.nillion.com
2. Navigate to API settings
3. Create a new API key
4. Copy your API key

2. Configure Moltbot

Option A: Environment Variable

export NILLION_API_KEY="your-api-key"

Option B: Interactive Setup (Recommended)

moltbot onboard --auth-choice nillion-api-key

This will:

1. Prompt for your API key (or use existing NILLION_API_KEY)
2. Show available Nillion models
3. Let you pick your default model
4. Configure the provider automatically

Option C: Non-interactive

moltbot onboard --non-interactive \
  --auth-choice nillion-api-key \
  --nillion-api-key "your-api-key"

3. Verify Setup

# List available models
moltbot models list | grep nillion

# Run an agent turn
moltbot agent --session-id test --message "Hello, are you working?"

Model Selection

After setup, Moltbot shows available Nillion models.

• Default: nillion/openai/gpt-oss-20b (nilAI Private 20B) for privacy-preserving inference with reasoning.

Change your default model anytime:

moltbot models set "nillion/openai/gpt-oss-20b"

List all available models:

moltbot models list | grep nillion

Configure via moltbot configure

1. Run moltbot configure
2. Select Model/auth
3. Choose Nillion nilAI

Available Models

Model ID	Display Name	Context (tokens)	Features
openai/gpt-oss-20b	nilAI Private 20B	128k	Reasoning, Tool calling

The full model reference is nillion/openai/gpt-oss-20b.

Reasoning Support

nilAI Private 20B supports reasoning, which enables the model to think through complex problems step by step before providing an answer. This is particularly useful for:

• Complex problem solving
• Multi-step reasoning tasks
• Tool/function calling decisions

Tool Calling

nilAI supports function/tool calling, allowing the model to:

• Invoke external tools when needed
• Return structured function call responses
• Handle parallel tool calls

Usage Examples

# Start an agent session
moltbot agent --session-id myproject --message "Help me with my code"

# Use with the TUI (terminal user interface)
moltbot tui

# Send a message via a channel
moltbot message send --target "+1234567890" --text "Hello from nilAI"

# Open the dashboard
moltbot dashboard

Troubleshooting

API key not recognized

echo $NILLION_API_KEY
moltbot models list | grep nillion

Ensure the key is correctly set.

Connection issues

Nillion API is at https://nilai-f910.nillion.network/v1. Ensure your network allows HTTPS connections.

Model not found

The model reference includes the full path: nillion/openai/gpt-oss-20b. Make sure to use the complete reference.

Config file example

{
  env: { NILLION_API_KEY: "your-key" },
  agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "nillion/openai/gpt-oss-20b" } } },
  models: {
    mode: "merge",
    providers: {
      nillion: {
        baseUrl: "https://nilai-f910.nillion.network/v1",
        apiKey: "${NILLION_API_KEY}",
        api: "openai-responses",
        models: [
          {
            id: "openai/gpt-oss-20b",
            name: "nilAI Private 20B",
            reasoning: true,
            input: ["text"],
            cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
            contextWindow: 128000,
            maxTokens: 8192
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Links

• Nillion
• nilAI Documentation